"This is going to be the hardest time of our lives," Craig told Kara the next evening after dinner, shaking his head as they strolled arm in arm along the trail rimming Seward Park a couple of miles from home. Zach held Paws' leash and darted ahead of them, sometimes along the path, sometimes in the grass. Down a gentle slope to their right, Lake Washington glimmered lazily in the late sunlight. Woods of mixed deciduous and evergreen trees bordered the path on their left. The evening had turned unexpectedly cool, and only a few people were out walking. Zach, however, was delighted with the weather; it gave him a chance to sport his new jacket.
Kara squeezed Craig's arm. She hadn't taken her eyes off the youngster since they had arrived at the park. "So much for adopting. We seem to have acquired a child without asking to. I mean," she added with measured frustration, glancing up to the sky, "we asked years ago… He just arrived a bit late…"
Craig was silent for a moment. "How do you feel about being a mom?"
Kara scoffed at him. "What kind of question is that? Do I have a choice?" Even so, she considered as they walked along. "Actually, Lia asked me the same thing when I told her and Ben this morning. I said I'd felt like a mom for two weeks already. I wasn't sure what I meant by that, but now I think I know. I watch Zach playing with Paws up there and I want to keep him away from the water, I want to tell him to watch where he's going so he doesn't run into something, I watch every stranger who walks by…"
"So you feel over-protective."
"Responsible," she corrected, slapping Craig's ribs half-heartedly with the back of her hand. "I feel responsible for him."
Craig nodded. "But I mean, are you okay with this?"
Kara stopped and turned to face him. "What am I going to do, Craig, wish he wasn't ours so we could send him back for a refund?"
With an unconvincing huff, she resumed walking, eyes on the youngster again. He was rubbing Paws' head. He jumped suddenly and ran away. The yellow dog bounded exuberantly after him.
"Besides," she continued, "look at him. He's beautiful. He reminds me of you." She watched him for another moment. "I just feel so far behind. We can't make up for ten years of not knowing he existed."
"No," Craig agreed.
Here Craig was, walking with his wife through the park, following their—he really was their son, wasn't he? Their son, who walked and played ahead of them. But even in this moment, Craig was working the problem of where his son had been these past ten years. Who had kept him from them, and why? Who had brought him into this world without their knowledge? He wanted answers, wanted them fiercely—if only he knew where to begin looking.
"How about you?" Kara inquired, squeezing his arm again. "How do you feel about being a dad all of a sudden?"
Craig had his answer ready; he had been thinking on it all day. "I'm conflicted," he admitted. "I'd like some time to prepare."
"We could ask Ben and Lia to keep him for a couple of days, give us time to think through things," Kara offered. "The girls would probably love that."
"No, I don't want him anywhere but with us. That's my conflict. Now that he's here, I'm not ready, but I don't want him to be with anyone else, either. There's so much he needs to learn from us, so much he's never experienced—normal kid things."
"Like baseball?" she teased.
"Yes," he admitted, "and having a dog"—Zach and Paws were still running ahead of them—"and knowing what a pregnant woman looks like, and going to the store, and to church, and to the park… Just life, Kara. Now that we know he exists, I want him to live."
They continued on in silence for a while. The path took them through a stand of evergreens, then opened up on another beautiful view of the lake. Zach and Paws ambled off the path, edging closer and closer to the shoreline, Paws straining at his leash, stretching toward the water.
Zach stopped and looked back at Craig and Kara.
"Go ahead!" Kara called ahead to him. "Leave your shoes and socks on the grass. Go be a fish!" Aside to Craig, she added, "I have a towel in the car. He'll need it."
But Zach didn't fall in the water this time. He and Paws splashed around for a while at the edge of the lake, and then he rejoined his parents. He sat down with them on a bench looking out across the water toward Mercer Island and dried his feet off with his socks, then began to put those socks back on.
"Zach, no," Kara admonished, stopping his hand with hers. "Just leave your socks off, now that they're wet. Wear your shoes without them."
He frowned as if that were a new idea to him, but tried it out and accepted it. "Mom," he asked, "can I call you Mom with a big 'M' now?"
She took a deep breath. "Yes, Zechariah, you most certainly can. And in exchange, you get a bedtime, and chores, and you have to take a bath every night."
"Every night?" he groaned, incredulous.
"Well, maybe every other night." She grinned at his less than enthused reaction. "You know, there's a lake here. You could take a bath right now." With a sly look, she jumped up and reached for the youngster. He stared, taken aback.
"Run, Zach," Craig advised him.
Kara pulled Zach off the bench and tugged him toward the water. He gaped at her in shock.
Craig repeated, "Run away, Zach, before she throws you in the lake!"
Catching on suddenly, Zach spun and slipped out of her grasp. Kara cackled mischievously and chased him around the bench. The youngster began to laugh at their game. Craig reached down to rub Paws' head as he watched them. When did she learn to do this? He had never seen her act like this with their nieces and nephew—playful, yes, but this? This was new. He liked it.
Kara caught up with Zach and tackled him good-naturedly to the ground. The youngster squirmed away, laughing, and Craig smiled to himself. This really would be the hardest time of their lives, undoubtedly, with all the adjustments they would have to make and were already making. Zach surely still had a few surprises for them. One thing was certain: all three of them were launching into a brand new life. Craig and Kara had a son; Zach had parents. They were launching into a new life together.
*****
The Boy Who Appeared from the Rain Page 43